Slave Trade, Part IV
Posted on Thu 9th Jan, 2020 @ 1:49am by Krell House of Mer'uk & T'Vala
Edited on on Sun 9th Aug, 2020 @ 10:58pm
1,749 words; about a 9 minute read
Mission:
Resolution
Location: IKS D' K Tahg
Timeline: MD 4, 0545
Tags: Lissi
Previously, on the pirate hunt ...
Krell glanced over at the helmsman, “Best possible speed, go!”
And now, what happens next ....
For over a day Krell's ship followed the ion trail of the pirate ship, and it became increasingly more difficult as the ion trail began to dissipate. Finally a system well known for being a haven for pirates and the slave trade appeared on long range sensors. "Captain, the Kaldor system just came up on long range sensors. It's known for harboring pirates and there is a strong slave trade there."
"Activate the cloak and reduce speed to warp 5." Krell ordered. The reduction in speed would help the cloak hide the lower power emissions just in case someone was looking.
Krell felt the tension on the Bridge as the D' k tahg approached the fourth planet of the system. Sensors had detected several pirate ships as well as automated orbital defense platforms. "Standard orbit," Krell said as he stood up out of his chair. He wasn't one hundred percent sure that the defense platforms wouldn't penetrate the cloak.
"Standard orbit, Captain," the helmsman replied.
"Away team to the transporter room!" Krell ordered and they quickly left the bridge.
This time, there was little talk as they walked into the transporter room. Everyone got into position on the platform, and in seconds they found themselves on a planet, not at all similar to Earth, or the planet they'd left a couple of days before, either. For one thing, there were huge mountains in the near distance. Snow-covered the tops of them, but the base wasn't covered in forests. The first thing Lissi noted was a town not far away. More like a village, really. The second thing was the small river only a few meters away. It was probably three meters across, and no telling how deep. Fortunately, the transporter crewman had positioned them on one side of it - the same side where the town was.
T'Vala was dressed in a simple Vulcan tunic and slacks. She looked as nondescript as she could manage. It made her job as one of Krell's crew significantly easier. She looked around at the mountains, the river, and the village, with cool curiosity.
Krell and his warriors looked like an invasion force, but they had no time for dress-up. They needed to rescue the Klingon slaves and continue on to find out where the slave ship went. One of the warriors scanned for Klingon life signs. "There are twenty Klingon life signs concentrated in a single building at the edge of the village."
"Very well, we have no time to wait. Use stealth, I do not wish to kill all the Villagers, even though this is probably not a Federation planet. The Federation does not allow slavery." Krell lead the way, followed by Durn, who had the scanner, and the other three followed suit. He didn't wish for bloodshed, so he kept them to the back and sides of the buildings.
Lissi was a little surprised at seeing this side of the ambassador. So far, on the station, she had see his brash and sometimes competitive and argumentative side. Now, she was seeing that inside him there was a warrior who planned, too. They didn't really have a plan for what to do, or how to rescue the Klingons. On the other hand, until they saw more of the area, it was difficult to plan details like that. All in all, she was pleased to follow him and his warriors toward the place that had been identified.
Krell stopped abruptly, "This is not a good idea, we are too exposed here." Krell turned to Durn, "Can they be beamed directly to the ship?"
Durn shook his head, "They seem to be confined by a force field that the ship can not penetrate. We need to take the force field out."
Krell looked around for a moment then did the unexpected. He climbed the side of one of the buildings like a monkey and soon was on the roof where it would be very difficult for anyone on the ground to detect him. One by one his warriors followed him to the roof.
T'Vala looked at Lissi. "Should we walk through the village? I do not think we will draw attention to ourselves if we do." She glanced up. "We are not Klingon."
"And we don't look much like Starfleet, either. If we're careful not to draw attention to ourselves .... I'm not sure how long we can leave those fellas alone, though, before they find trouble," Regos rolled her eyes.
"If they have not found it already," T'Vala countered. "We need to know who is behind this as well as where the slaves are. Any suggestions?"
Lissi chewed her bottom lip for a moment, and then said, "Market place? That's usually where information is exchanged, so if there's something to learn, I expect it will be there. But whether we'll draw attention remains to be seen." She touched the small weapon in her voluminous pocket. "I'm game if you are."
"Indeed. Alas, we did not have the foresight to replicate local money," T'Vala said. "But we can always pretend to be shopping. Perhaps we will learn something of value."
Shrugging, Regos stepped off with the ambassador, noting the housing structures, and the few people on the street as they headed into the market. "My gosh, I feel as if I just stepped into 20th century back-country India," she remarked. "I didn't expect it would be a replica of ancient market places in poor countries on my world!" She stopped at a booth and fingered a pretty scarf in turquoise and purples. "Still, this feels nice," she said, handing it to T'Vala.
The Vulcan handled the fabric of the scarf. "This is lovely." She noticed a sari in brown, gold, and black nearby. "That, too, is quite beautiful."
Lissi felt strange, being on duty, and shopping in a primitive marketplace. She turned to the owner of the booth, prepared to haggle over the price of the scarf. "How much?" she said in Federation Standard.
The woman shrugged, and held up two fingers. Great, two what? the Starfleet officer thought. She reached into her pocket and drew out several coins she'd brought from base. Her father said never to depend on credits, and she didn't. Pushing through them, she chose two small silver pieces and put them flat on her hand, offering them to the woman.
For a moment she hesitated, then reached forward and took one of them. When Regos left her hand stretched out with the remaining one, the woman shook her head and pocketed the one she had taken, then wrapped the scarf in a piece of what looked like brown paper, tied it with a string and handed it to Regos.
"majQa' toy'wI'" Lissi said, with a slight bow of her head, as she took the package. Lowering her voice, she asked, "naDev pirates?"
Gazing back at her impassively, the shopkeeper shook her head and answered, "naDevvo' peghoS."
Bowing again slightly, Regos turned away with a final word, "jIQoS."*
T'Vala half-listened to the barter as she browsed. She was paying as much attention to the people around her as she was the merchandise. Someone came down the street and she noticed several shopkeepers tense or subtly move items under the table.
She raised an eyebrow and glanced at Regos.
"It's a clue," Lissi said and shrugged, unwilling to give away their awareness of what they'd seen. She glanced around casually, taking brief note of the other people nearby, and one who leaned against the corner of a building, paying more attention to the market than the merchandise.
"It might be time for us to go," she said quietly.
Meanwhile, the Klingons slowly made their way towards the one building on the backside of the roofs, careful not to be seen or heard. Klingons were not built to be stealthy nor sneaky. Durn stopped Krell and pointed, "That building has the force field."
Krell looked around, "This community is low tech and shouldn't possess anything like a force field. Someone must be helping them with the slaves and various tech."
"I agree, something is not right here," Durn said. "There." Durn pointed at a sleeping guard at the back of the building that contained the Klingon slaves. "He sleeping so we can sneak up on him."
Krell slowly climbed/dropped down off the building with a soft thud and began approaching the sleeping guard followed closely by his warriors. If anything crazy happened to the ambassador, they would more than likely be executed or praised, depending on what faction they were greeted by upon their return.
For now, Krell walked slowly and cautiously until he was able to perform a rear-naked choke hold on the unaware guard. Within a few seconds, he was down for the count.
Durn began scanning the building. "Sir, there is no way we can get in the building from here."
Krell ripped off a device from the unconscious guard and tossed it to Durn. “See if that will help.”
Durn caught the device and immediately began working on it to discover its purpose. “I think this is the controller for the force field.” By the time Durn got the words out of his mouth, he was able to shut down the force field. “Done.” He said as he smiled.
Krell grasped the door handle, opened the door and went in before Durn could say anything. Durn and the other warriors followed Krell inside....
Back in the village market, several vendors were closing their booths. As T'Vala and Regos watched, more and more began to shut down, as if at a private signal the two women hadn't heard. Lissi looked at the Vulcan. "Was it something I said? Or did we miss a signal? We really do need to leave, right now." She turned back toward the direction from which they'd come, noting more men leaning on buildings, and one or two staring openly at her and the ambassador.
Wrapping the scarf around her head and flinging the ends behind her shoulders, Regos hissed, "In fact, we might be a little late. Ambassador, drag out your diplomacy. I think we might need it. I plan to smile and nod demurely as we walk back where we came from."
* Conversation summary: Well done, Servant (thanks). Have you seen the pirates? Get lost. I apologize.
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